The invention pertains to water softeners, and more particularly to an operational process for an electronically controlled lime controller.
Drinking water primarily comes from two sources. Drinking water is obtained from bodies of water on the earth's surface. Drinking water is also obtained from subterranean wells which gather water after it is filtered through the top layers of the earth. After water (H.sub.2 O) passes through the top layers of the earth's surface, it contains carbon dioxide, a carbon acid. In the lower strata of the earth, the carbon acid enriched water dissolves lime (CaCO.sub.3) out of subterranean rock and converts it to calcium-hydrogen carbonate. The resulting calcium-hydrogen carbonate is the source of lime deposits and crustifications (scaling) which form in water systems.
Regardless of the source of drinking water, water typically contains carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) and earth alkalines, such as calcium and magnesium. The total hardness of the water is the sum of the calcium-hydrogen carbonate, magnesium-hydrogen carbonate and the non-carbonate starch which includes a calcium and magnesium component solution. Consequently, the water "hardness" is dependent upon the amount of lime in the water.
There are several methods of preventing limestone deposit formation (i.e., crustification or scaling) in water systems. In one method, ion exchanging mechanisms are used to remove the calcium ions Ca.sub.2 + and the calcium-hydrogen carbonate from the water by combining the calcium ions and calcium-hydrogen carbonate with sodium ions from sodium chloride (NaCl). Another method uses phosphate chemicals as an additive mechanism to prevent the formation of crust deposits. The lime is either contained by the added chemicals or it forms a sediment which is flushed by the water moving through the system. A third method for preventing the formation of lime deposits uses an electronic lime controller which generates an electromagnetic field to change the separation characteristics of calcium and carbonate before it enters the water system. The process is purely physical as it uses no chemical additives.
Electronic lime controllers output electronic impulses having a negative current which generates the electromagnetic field that changes the calcium-hydrogen carbonate into a non-adhesive calcium carbonate, which is a powder, and carbonic acid. As the water passes through the electromagnetic field, amorphous particles develop and stand in equilibrium with the carbonic acid contained in the water. Because particles in the lime powder are stable over an extended period of time, they do not form a hard crusted layer (scaling). The lime particles are flushed out of the system by the action of running water in the system. At high temperatures, the particles remain unchanged, and existing crustifications slowly erode as small amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the running water.
In September of 1986, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a release concerning side effects of chemical water softening methods. Electronic lime controllers are particularly advantageous as the electronic controller uses a physical process to treat the water. Consequently, the undesirable changes that take place when chemicals are added to water are not present in this process. Electronic lime controllers are particularly advantageous as no chemical additives are placed in the water. However, known electronic lime controllers are not adjustable upon installation for treating water passing through the system at different flow rates. Furthermore, known electronic lime controllers are not adjustable to compensate for changes in the hardness of the water entering the water system.